SPR Gym and Recreational Center
by beegene
Summary: This is a slice-of-life style story set in an AU where SPR is a Gym and Recreational center. Yasuhara, the bored front-desk-clerk begins falling in awkward first-love with the hot Kids Inc soccer coach, Eugene. Yasune is the main ship but the story is also about all of the other Gym AU shenanigans that ensue.
1. Chapter 1

It was a bright, summer morning at the SPR Gym and Recreation center. Osamu Yasuhara was manning the front desk, or rather, sitting at the front desk reading a science fiction novel. He was always the first one there in the mornings, arriving just before the head maintenance guy, Houshou Takigawa.

"Good morning." Yasuhara yawned, not looking up as he heard the front door open. "Eugene said that you forgot to sweep the basketball court and he'd appreciate if you did that first." Yasuhara continued reading as he spoke.

"I am Eugene." Eugene laughed, leaning on the front desk counter.

Yasuhara's head flew up to see Eugene smiling at him. "Oh." He laughed nervously. "Sorry, usually Houshou is the only person here at this time."  
"Eugene chuckled again. "You know, literally your only job is to see who comes in the door." He finished clocking in and began walking back towards the doors to the basketball court.

"Wait," Yasuhara closed his book and leaned back in his chair. "Why are you here so early?"

Eugene turned and began pushing the door open with his back as he jerked a thumb back towards the gym.

"I felt like a jog before work," He explained. "I stayed up last night until, like, three AM binge-watching Netflix and if I'm going to put up with kids this afternoon, I need to get a head start on the day."

"Oh." Yasuhara pushed his glasses up, silently wishing that he could look that good on that little sleep. Eugene always looked good. "Good luck, then. If you need to go home let me know by noon so I can start notifying parents."

Eugene shook his head. "Nah. I'll be good." He slipped through the door and Yasuhara watched him jog down the hall through the tiny glass window in the wooden door.

Yasuhara sighed, returning to his reading. A few minutes later, the front door opened again. Mai and Houshou entered together, chatting loudly.

"Sup," Houshou greeted as he typed his ID into the time computer to clock in.

Yasuhara recounted his message to Houshou about sweeping the basketball court before greeting Mai.

"You okay?" Mai asked, looking Yasuhara up and down with a hand on her hip.

"Just tired." Yasuhara had already returned to his reading.

Mai shrugged and skipped through the door towards the yoga studio with Houshou close behind.

For the next hour, the rest of the SPR Gym employees filed through. Madoka and Ayako, chatting about their latest juice cleanse recipes, followed by Lin who still looked half-asleep.

Lin was wearing his usual cropped t-shirt, baring his midsection. Yasuhara was still not sure whether this was meant as more of a fashion statement or a political one, or both. However, he knew better than to ask the yogi to explain his outfit choices.

John arrived at the same time Oliver did, though John knew better to start any conversations with Oliver this early in the morning. At 6:00 AM, Yasuhara officially unlocked the doors and announced over the PA system that the Gym was open.

Eugene passed by again and walked through the front office door to get to the showers.

"Good morning!" Yasuhara didn't look up, he had just heard the front door and assumed it had been a gym member.

Eugene chuckled and walked backwards into the office. "Just me again."

Yasuhara tried not to blush when he looked up at Eugene. His shirt clung to his chest and his hair was sticking up in all directions. He gulped. "Sorry."

"You really need to start looking up before you greet people." Eugene winked before disappearing through the office door.

X~X~X

"You're doing the first class this morning, right?" Mai asked, stretching on her orange yoga mat.

Lin, in a typical cross-legged pose across from her nodded, his eyes still closed.

Houshou barged into the quiet room with a handful of plastic garbage can liners that made a loud rustling sound, upsetting the peace.

"Did I change the bags last night?" He crossed the room, walking between Lin and Mai's mats and picked up a small bin full of empty water bottles and disposable wipes. "Oh. Guess not."

He changed the liner and set the bin back down, positioning it carefully against the wall so Lin wouldn't complain about the 'balance of the room being offset' or something ridiculous. "Need anything else?" He glanced back at Mai and gave the bin one last gentle push into what he felt was the right spot. He secretly hoped that there was more to be done in the room so that he and Mai could goof off. Sometimes this job could be incredibly boring.

Widening her lunge stance, Mai kicked over her water bottle, and water poured out onto the wood floor. Lin flinched.

"Oops!" Mai was a terrible actor, but Houshou was glad for the excuse to chat with Mai rather than pretending to be working somewhere else.

He walked quickly towards the door. "I'll go get the mop!"

Lin shook his head, eyes remaining closed. He couldn't imagine the stress of working with Mai and Houshou's antics if he didn't literally meditate for a living.

Moments later, Houshou returned and he and Mai chatted about some movie they had seen recently. Finally opening his eyes and observing the pair, Lin let out a tiny snort of a laugh. He didn't even think it was possible to mop so slowly. He stood up and rolled his mat up before placing it against the back wall. Glancing at the clock, he decided that he had a little time to mull about before his first class. Leaving Mai and Houshou to neglect their jobs together, he took his water bottle and quietly left the yoga room.

Lin had hardly made it out of the door into the main equipment room when he heard someone calling him.

"Lin!" Madoka waved him over from behind a weight machine. She and Oliver were standing by the wall sipping from large water bottles, looking like they had just finished running a mile, which they probably had. "I was just talking about you." Madoka brushed her sweat-drenched bangs out of her face. Her cheeks were almost the same color as her pink hair and it took everything she could not to stare blatantly at Lin's bare midsection. Why must he insist on wearing those loose crop tops to work?

"Oh?" Lin made his way over to where Madoka and Noll were standing, tucking a hand into his pocket when he got there.

Madoka pointed with the mouth of her bottle at Oliver. "I was telling Noll that he should take a yoga class with you or Mai. He's always so stressed out, you know?"

"Yoga helps clear the mind." Lin spoke in agreement while Oliver was still too out of breath to say anything to defend himself. "So does daily meditation."

Madoka gave Oliver a pointed look. "See!" She leaned towards him. "Even Lin agrees." She turned back to Lin. "Thanks!"

"Why don't you take a class?" He uncapped his reusable water bottle. "It will benefit Noll, but it would probably do you some good too." He took a sip.

Madoka shifted her weight from foot to foot nervously. "Huh!" she squeaked. "Maybe I will!"

Lin nodded politely before turning away and heading back towards the yoga room.

Madoka's hand flew excitedly to Noll's arm. "Did you hear that?" She was trying to whisper but it came out like a raspy scream. "He wants me to come to his yoga class! We are so going to get married and have adorable kids!"

Oliver brushed her hand off of his arm. "By that logic he also is going to marry and have adorable kids with me," he deadpanned, glancing at his watch before leaving Madoka alone, still trying to comprehend what he had implied.

X~X~X

"Good morning, ma'am!" John greeted a gym member as she came through the door to the daycare, her two young children in tow. He was setting up a palette of washable paints at the snack table and laying out a few pieces of white cardstock. He turned and kneeled to the childrens' level. "Do you guys want to paint this morning?"

The kids both jumped excitedly and ran to claim their seats at the table. John laughed at the energetic boy and girl.

"I see they're in good hands!" the mother commented, signing her name on the parent check-in sheet. "Be good, okay!" She waved at John and her kids as she left for her work out.

A few more parents dropped their kids off with John throughout the morning, and soon he had a running total of at least seven little ones at all times. He circled about the room as they finger painted. One painted a bird, another a tree with a sun shining on it, another painted a terribly unflattering portrait of John, and a little girl tried her very hardest on a butterfly that she was incredibly proud of. John stood behind the girl painting the purple butterfly.

"It's beautiful, Ellie." He pointed at a wing. "This is very detailed!"

Ellie grinned at him with pride. "Thank you, mister!"

The other children observing this instantly became jealous and waved their drawings at him to judge. He giggled nervously and began complimenting all of the paintings in turn.

He made his way to the door for backup. "Yasuhara!" He yelled out to the front desk across from the daycare room door.

"Yes?" Yasuhara bookmarked his sci-fi novel. "Do I need to call a parent again?"

"No! Just come here!" John shut the door back and rushed back to the table to make sure that no paint was spilled during the moment he was looking away. The children were still happily painting with minimal messiness.

"What do you need?" Yasuhara burst through the door looking less than excited.

John gestured towards the snack table. "We just wanted to show you our paintings!"

Ellie, the meticulous young girl, held up her purple butterfly. Yasuhara thought it looked like a snail or maybe an obtuse pair of lungs.

"Oh!" He feigned an excited voice that sounded mostly sarcastic, but he was sure the kids wouldn't understand sarcasm anyway. "What is it?"

The girl rolled her eyes as if Yasuhara were a complete idiot. "A butterfly, _duh_!"

"Oh yeah I can totally see that!" Yasuhara's voice was still sarcastic.

John nudged Yasuhara's rib lightly. "Isn't it _pretty_?"

"Oh, absolutely." Yasuhara leaned forward to study the painting closely. "Just don't quit your day job," he mumbled.

Ellie looked pleased, if not somewhat confused. "Thank you! Mister, what's a day job?!"

X~X~X

"Okay! One lap around, please." Eugene blew his whistle as about two dozen 5th graders began to jog past him. He could already tell that this was going to be a long day, and he was beginning to think that the conspiracy theory documentary he had stayed up until all hours of the morning to watch was hardly worth it. He had only really watched it because it seemed like something silly that Yasuhara would be into, and hoped he could talk to him about it. He was in the middle of making a mental note to ask Yasuhara at lunch whether or not he believed that the moon landing had really taken place when the gymnasium door swung open. Eugene looked at who had entered and saw he wouldn't have to wait until lunch to ask.

"Do you need something?" Eugene glanced at Yasuhara briefly before returning to watching his kids soccer team.

"No." Yasuhara came to stand beside him. "I'm just bored out of my mind."

Eugene held up a finger in front of Yasuhara's face. "Hold that thought." He blew his whistle again. "Find a partner and stretch!" he instructed, and then turned back to Yasuhara, prompting him to continue.

"Also this book I'm reading is ruining my life." Yasuhara crossed his arms.

Eugene chuckled and began moving towards a bench against the back wall to sit. "How so?" Eugene sat and draped his arm against the back of the bench.

Yasuhara sat down next to Eugene and ruffled his hair with both hands in exaggerated frustration. "Everyone dies!" He squished the sides of his face with his palms. "Like, everyone!"

"Oh, I can see how that could be frustrating." Eugene chuckled. "What's the book about?"

Yasuhara heaved a heavy sigh before speaking. "Kids going to the moon and dying." He glanced up at Eugene. "I mean, basically."

Eugene leaned back against the wall, looking up at the heavy industrial ceiling fans. "Do you believe that the moon landing really happened?"

A moment passed as Yasuhara considered. "I don't think so," he finally said, risking a glance at Eugene's face while he was turned away.

"Why not?" Eugene sat up again, if he noticed Yasuhara staring he didn't let on.

Yasuhara laughed, "Why are you asking?"

"I was up last night watching a documentary about it." Eugene paused, stood again, and called out instructions for another exercise.

Yasuhara stayed seated and waited for Eugene to sit back down. When Eugene rejoined him on the bench, he launched into a long stream of questions about the documentary and the moon landing and Eugene's personal opinions. Eugene could hardly keep up, but he would talk to Yasuhara about anything if he were this passionate about it. If Yasuhara were passionate about Economics, Eugene would listen. If Yasuhara were really into the social structure of a beehive, he would listen. Eugene shook his head, realizing he hadn't been listening.

Yasuhara didn't seem to notice. He was talking about his book now. "It really makes you wonder! Like, why do we not go to the moon anymore? That message, too, was real! There are real possible alien broadcasts from the moon and nobody talks about it!"

Eugene shook his head, chuckling. "God, you are such a nerd."

Fumbling, Yasuhara nervously took off his glasses and cleaned them with the hem of his t-shirt. "I'm just really passionate about space travel."

"And conspiracy theories," Eugene added.

Yasuhara blushed, replacing his glasses. "Yes, conspiracy theories."

Eugene blew his whistle again and stood, but before instructing his team, he looked back over his shoulder at Yasuhara. "Who killed JFK?"

"Oh my God do not even get me started."

For the second time that day, and yes, Yasuhara was counting, Eugene winked at him. "I'd sure love to."

 _ **Thanks for reading this silliness! Like all great AUs, this started as a joke. Thanks also to Hannah (Snavej) for being my beta and also convincing me to write this in the first place! If you keep up with my other fanfic, I have 4 chapters now stockpiled and almost ready to post so that will be updated regularly soon. It is looking like I will update this fic frequently as well seeing as Hannah is helping me to speed it along. Thanks again for reading, rate and review if you don't mind! -Bee**_


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey," Eugene leaned over Yasuhara's desk, picking up a pen and tapping him on the head with it. "Are we still going to lunch together?"

Yasuhara frowned up at Eugene, as much as he wanted to, he didn't have anyone to cover the front desk if he were to leave.

"I can't," he sighed. "There's no one to watch the phones."

For a moment, Eugene said nothing, he seemed to be trying to find a way around the problem. He suddenly slapped the top of Yasuhara's desk.

"I'll be right back." He sprinted out the office door and out of the building, leaving a confused Yasuhara behind.

Shrugging, Yasuhara returned to reading. The book he had today was about possible alien visitations to earth. He had bought it because of the title, _Unholy Communion._ Yasuhara was always a sucker for cheesy titles.

He finished almost three whole chapters before he began to worry for Eugene. He wondered if maybe something had happened to him, or maybe he had quit randomly and left Yasuhara at the gym alone to rot away. What if Eugene had been hit by a car and would be found years later at the bottom of a lake? Yasuhara shuddered, and breathed an audible sigh of relief five minutes later when Eugene returned safely.

Eugene raised an eyebrow, grinning a sideways grin. "That happy to see me again?"

Yasuhara shook his head fervently. "You were gone forever, I thought something had happened!"

"Like what?" Eugene set a fast food sack on Yasuhara's desk.

"Like you could have been hit by a car and thrown in a lake!" Yasuhara only realized how silly his worries were when he was voicing them out loud.

Eugene chuckled as he walked back behind Yasuhara's desk. He sat nonchalantly down on the floor at Yasuhara's feet.

"Um," Yasuhara glanced down. "What are you doing, Eugene?"

Eugene looked up, "I'm having lunch with you." He pointed towards the brown paper sack on the desk before picking it up. He handed Yasuhara a chicken sandwich and then took a cheeseburger out for himself. "You can't leave the office for lunch so I brought lunch to the office."

Yasuhara beamed, also blushing a little. "Th-thanks!" He rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand. "That was really thoughtful of you."

Eugene shrugged, unwrapping his burger and taking a large bite. He pointed up at the book on Yasuhara's desk as he swallowed. "Whatcha reading?"

Yasuhara felt heat rush to his cheeks. "Oh, it's stupid!" he waved both hands in front of him, dismissing the question. "Conspiracy stuff."

Squinting, Eugene read the title, " _Unholy Communion._ Sounds intense." He took another large bite of his lunch.

"It's a silly book about aliens, I'm mostly reading it ironically." Yasuhara picked up the book and flipped through the pages passively. He set it back down and unwrapped his sandwich, taking a small bite.

"Do you believe in aliens?"

Yasuhara shrugged, still chewing. "Probably."

X~X~X

"Hey John! Hey kids!" Ayako burst through the door to the daycare room. Several children regarded Ayako quizzically, as she had never interacted with them before. She didn't seem to take notice.

"Afternoon." John smiled from his seat on the rainbow-carpeted floor where he and the youngest child were playing with blocks.

Ayako came to stand in front of him and crossed her arms. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure!" John steadied the top of his block tower.

"I need to borrow your daycare kids for a moment."

John's expression changed from a smile to one of confused worry. "Um I don't know, I-"

"Okay kids!" Ayako turned swiftly away from John and made her way to the craft supply closet. "Auntie Ayako is going to do a craft with you today!" She motioned for all of the kids to come sit at the table.

John stood and scooped up the baby he had been playing blocks with, but did not do anything to stop Ayako, she had her mind made up and he knew better than to argue.

Ayako gave the children each coloring pages and glitter glue pens. "Make cute pictures or something." She shook a small bag of synthetic feathers and confetti out into the middle of the table. "Don't worry about the mess!"

John leaned in close to Ayako, "What are you up to?" he asked delicately.

"I'm trying to get with the hot maintenance guy." She placed her hands on her hips, observing the children hard at work on their multimedia craft projects. John looked at her with a confused expression, but did not dignify her explanation with a reply. Once the children had finished their pictures, and made a sufficient mess, Ayako walked to the door and called to Yasuhara, instructing him to page Houshou.

A few moments later, the daycare door swung open. "You needed me?" Houshou waltzed in, carrying a small hand vacuum. His face fell when he saw the mess the children had made of the snack table, glitter and feathers were strewn about, along with random bits of colored tissue paper. "What happened here?"

Ayako shrugged, examining her manicure. "The kids are happy, that's all that matters."

Houshou glared at her. "Uh huh." He picked up a small trash bin and began to scrape some of the confetti into it.

Flustered, John gathered up all of the daycare kids and led them out to the playground and out of the way.

As Houshou tidied the children's snack table, Ayako took a seat and crossed her legs, watching him work.

He glanced back at her over his shoulder. "Need something?"

Ayako only hummed in response.

Shaking his head, Houshou flipped the switch on the hand vacuum and began to vacuum up the glitter. After a moment, he flipped it back off and turned back to Ayako.

"Why are you even here?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Why do you care?"

"Because you're just watching me clean and it's weird!"

Ayako shrugged and stood up. She said nothing as she made her way to the door.

"Wait!" Houshou called as Ayako reached for the door handle. "You don't have to leave."

Ayako slipped out the door, leaving Houshou alone in the daycare room.

Yasuhara looked up at her as she closed the door behind her. "What was that about?" He asked, adjusting his glasses.

"That was playing hard to get, just watch and learn." Ayako crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall by the daycare room entrance. Just a few seconds later, the door flew open.

"Hey!" Houshou spoke, reaching an arm towards Ayako. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me," he pulled his arm back and rubbed his neck with it. "I shouldn't have been so harsh."

Ayako pursed her lips. "It's fine, no harm done."

"Hey, uh," Houshou ran a hand through his hair. "Would you like to go catch a movie some time?"

Yasuhara's jaw dropped at the scene in front of him. Eugene, who was listening from behind Yasuhara's desk shook his head in disbelief.

Ayako smiled triumphantly. "I'd love to!"

X~X~X

"Ma'am!" Madoka waved at a gym member, walking swiftly to catch her. "Sorry, Ma'am! Excuse me!"

The woman stopped, glaring at Madoka through her dark bangs. "Yes?" she answered haughtily, glancing at the clock on the wall.

"You forgot to rerack your weights." Madoka gestured towards a few light hand-weights on the floor by a weight bench. "Somebody could trip. If you can lift them in exercises, you can carry them back to the rack."

The woman huffed, shuffling back over to the bench and putting the weights back where they belong. She brushed past Madoka, throwing her towel over her shoulder and huffing.

"Thank you!" Madoka called to her retreating figure, she turned to Houshou, who was wiping down equipment nearby. "Who does she think she is?"

Houshou looked up. "Hmm?" he straightened. "Oh, isn't that Masako Hara? That chick from TV?"

Madoka looked dumbfounded. "What?"

"She has a TV show where she speaks to spirits of the departed," he explained.

Madoka rolled her eyes. "I don't care who she is, she needs to rerack her tiny baby weights."

Houshou chuckled as he returned to cleaning.

X~X~X

"Okay, and, breathe in," Mai stood up as she directed her yoga class, moving about the room to watch her students and correct their poses. "Breathe out."

She kneeled next to a woman and instructed her to arch her back more. "Good." Mai smiled making her way back to the front of the room. "Return to our starting position."

As Mai and her students sat down on their mats, she heard the door slowly creak open. Oliver, holding a borrowed blue yoga mat stepped in confidently. He nodded to her as he unrolled his mat at the back of the studio and then took a seat, mimicking the poses of he other students in the class.

Slightly shaken, Mai, continued instructing her class on various poses and breathing exercises. She tried her best to ignore Oliver, but when it came time for her to correct poses, she saw that his downward facing dog pose was all wrong.

Panicking, she didn't know whether to correct him or just let him be.

She had never really talked to Oliver much, but she knew that he could be kind of touchy. Sighing, she decided to take her time to get to him, correcting other poses and hoping that he would correct himself. He didn't. Oliver was too busy being embarrassed over his awkward positioning to look around and take notice of how the other students were positioned.

"Hey." Mai had finally made her way to Oliver's mat. "Your pose is a little off." She hovered her hand over his back, not daring to make contact. "Your back needs to be a little lower and your arms should be up next to your ears."

Oliver nodded and adjusted his stance accordingly.

"Better." Mai smiled at him and he gave a terse nod in response.

After thirty minutes of stretching, Mai instructed her class to return again to the seated pose. "Breathe in," her eye caught Oliver's and she turned away, blushing. "Out."

She led the class in a five minute breathing exercise before standing again. "Alright! That's all for today, thank you!" She bowed to her class as they began to roll up their mats. She glanced over and saw Oliver, struggling to roll up his mat after most of the class was already gone.

"So?" Mai made her way over to Oliver. "How was it?" She took a small sip from her water bottle. "Feel relaxed?"

Oliver shrugged, finally rolling his mat and picking it up. "As I'll ever be."

Giggling Mai took the mat from him and returned it to the rental mat shelf, placing it on a shelf labeled 'USED' so she would remember to sanitize it before her next class.

"I'm glad you tried it out, You should try it again sometime," she called , but hearing no response, she turned. Oliver was gone.

X~X~X

"Okay listen to this," Yasuhara cleared his throat. "Aliens come into homes and temporarily remove young children, leaving their distraught parents paralyzed and helpless. In cases where a parent has been able to protest, the aliens insist that 'The children belong to us.'"

"Creepy." Eugene stroked his chin. "Is that a thing that happens?"

Yasuhara set the book down and leaned back in his chair. "Who knows! I mean, you would think that you would at least hear about that in the news or something, but..." he trailed off, glancing at Eugene.

"But what?"

"But government cover-ups and that's a whole other thing." Yasuhara combed his hands through his hair. "Are you sure you find this interesting? I feel like I'm just talking about random things that you don't care about."

"Honest?" Eugene questioned, looking up at Yasuhara, who was now leaning down towards him. They were quite close, he suddenly realized, their foreheads were almost touching.

Yasuhara gave a slight nod.

Eugene sighed.

"I just like hearing you talk." He felt himself blush, something he had rarely done when talking to cute girls in school or any other time for that matter.

"Really?" Yasuhara couldn't've hidden his silly grin if he'd tried.

"You get so excited about this stuff, it's kind of adorable."

Yasuhara fumbled to adjust his glasses, trying to find something to say to that. Luckily, he didn't have to.

Eugene stood. "I better get back to work." He brushed dust from the floor off of his pants. "See you later?"

Still at a loss for words, Yasuhara nodded.

 ** _Two different stories updated on the same day, am I the only one excited? Thanks for reading this, as always! Also thanks to Hannah (Snavej) who helped edit this and also was around to brainstorm SPR Gym AU silliness that will happen in this story. On the subject, I'm still not sure how long this will be, but I think I'd like to see through to the beginning of an official Yasune relationship (is that a spoiler if I haven't written that far yet? oh well) Yeah, but thanks for reading and reviewing, love ya! -Bee_**


	3. Chapter 3

Yasuhara sighed, watching the door intently. Why was Eugene not here yet? For three hours now, Yasuhara had been sitting at his desk, trying to read. Every few minutes, he would glance up at the door, and then the clock, and then try to return to his book. He couldn't concentrate on reading with Eugene arriving two hours later than usual. Granted, kids soccer classes didn't start until one in the afternoon, so Eugene wasn't late by company standards. However Yasuhara, who had to watch everyone come through the door every morning and knew their schedules and habits by heart, knew that Eugene should have arrived at very latest thirty minutes ago. Yasuhara looked up when he heard the door open again, but it was only Mai.

"Morning!" She smiled, tipping her head slightly in greeting.

Yasuhara tried his best not to look disappointed, "It's eleven thirty, hardly morning." He faked a smile.

Mai looked startled. "Something wrong?"

Yasuhara tilted his head and his glasses caught the light. "I'm fine."

Scared, Mai turned away and started towards the office door to the hall.

Seconds later, Mai returned, dragged back into the front office by Madoka.

"What's up?" Madoka crossed her arms, towering over Yasuhara who was still sitting.

Yasuhara rolled his eyes. "Are you really all that pressed for gossip?" he spun his chair back and forth in a little half circle. "Go watch Houshou and the cross-fit lady."

With a squeaky voice, Mai chimed in, "I'd rather not watch them make out in the broom closet."

"Oh my god." Yasuhara shuddered.

Madoka moved so that she was hovering over him. "Don't change the subject, tell us why you're acting so glum."

Before Yasuhara could reply, Eugene and Oliver strolled through the office door. Seeing Madoka and Mai crowded about Yasuhara's desk, both twins stopped. Oliver took a step back as Eugene put a hand on his hip as if he were a mother confronting her three troublesome children.

"We miss a staff meeting?" He raised an eyebrow at the three before his expression broke into a wide smile.

Madoka observed a tiny sigh of relief escaping Yasuhara's lips and her face brightened as eyes flickered between Yasuhara and Eugene.

"You're late, Oliver, we were supposed to go for a jog today!" Madoka circled around to Oliver and wheeled him out of the office. Confused, Mai shrugged before turning to follow behind them.

"Why are you here so late?" Yasuhara inquired, worry lacing his voice, he slumped onto his desk, and let his chin rest in his hands.

"Noll and I had a doctor's appointment." Eugene finished typing his ID into the front desk computer and hit SUBMIT. "Did you not see that on the schedule?"

Yasuhara blushed. "Oh. Seems I forgot about that."

Eugene shook his head, laughing as he walked back to the other side of Yasuhara's desk. "How are the aliens?" He nodded towards a book by the phone.

"Oh this one isn't aliens." Yasuhara picked up the book to show him. "It's about quantum mechanics and human perception."

"No conspiracies?"

"Well, kinda conspiracies." Yasuhara ran his thumb over the pages of the book. "But more just weird science-y stuff."

Eugene nodded. "Alright, well let me know how much it ruins your life."

"You'll be hearing about it for the next three months at least."

"Can't wait." Eugene winked, slipping out of the office.

 _God_ , Yasuhara thought, _he had to stop doing that._

X~X~X

"Please!" Madoka whined, jogging slowly beside Oliver. "You have to know something about it!"

Oliver continued to ignore her, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.

"Has Eugene not said a thing to you about Yasuhara?"

"No," Oliver panted. "Why would he?"

"Oliver." Madoka stopped her hands finding her hips as she caught her breath. "He's your brother," she panted. " _Think._ "

Oliver shrugged. "In high school he only dated girls, but it's not like I paid any attention."

"Bisexuality is a thing!"

Rolling his eyes, Oliver continued. "If you think my brother is gay, why don't you ask him yourself?" He glanced over at the other side of the basketball court where Eugene was sorting a bag of soccer jerseys by color.

"Because that's tactless!"

Oliver gave her an annoyed look, "Since when have you cared about tact?" Not waiting for her reply, he shrugged. "It's not like it matters whether Eugene is gay or not." He smirked. "I mean, if you look as good as we do, anyone would be lucky to date either of us."

"See and that started out as a kind statement." Madoka resumed jogging at a slow pace and Oliver followed suit.

"Regardless," Oliver huffed. "Mind your own business, Madoka."

"That's never any fun!"

X~X~X

"Meditation is an art form," Lin spoke so quietly that the whole class had to lean towards where he sat at the front of the room to hear him properly. "When practiced properly, it is the key to opening the mind and balancing the soul."

Madoka held back a sigh at Lin's dreamy, poetic tone. She was elated to find that one of her appointments cancelled and that she could attend a meditation class rather than train a client that afternoon. In her mind, she was one step closer to becoming Mrs. Koujo Lin.

"Proper breathing is key to proper meditation," Lin continued, snapping Madoka out of her daydream. "Count your breaths with me. One...two...three..." He continued on to ten and then started over again.

This gave Madoka's thoughts plenty of time to wander again. By the fourth cycle of ten breaths, her mind was years in the future where she and Lin were naming their first child after her father and optioning suburban daycare centers.

"Find a place where your mind is at ease," Lin breathed out in a calm voice. "Think of as many details as possible, really try to place yourself in this hypothetical location."

Madoka could think of several places she'd like to be with Lin. Some of them were more serene than others.

"Breathe in this place, exist in the world you have created."

Madoka took a deep breath to hide a tiny laugh. How could she breathe when Lin made her so breathless?

"In the place you have created, you have no limits." Lin's voice remained its steady tone, but seemed minutely stern. "Take in the energy from this place, remember that you can return to this place at any time."

Madoka smiled. If only.

"When you are ready, you may open your eyes." Lin instructed, watching as the class began to stir.

Taking an unrealistically long time to roll up her mat, Madoka stuck around in the studio as the gym members filtered out of the room. When she was left with Lin, she felt herself panic, even though that had been her goal to begin with.

"How was it?" Lin placed his rolled mat onto a shelf and came to stand in front of Madoka.

She stood, holding her now rolled yoga mat in her arms. "I loved it!" her arms tightened around the bundle. "Very relaxing."

Lin smiled slightly, looking satisfied. He reached forward and took Madoka's mat from her. "I'll put this up."

Madoka blushed, no longer very calm. "O-oh, thank you!" She didn't notice that Lin was blushing as well.

He dipped his head, covering his reddened face with his fringe. "No problem."

X~X~X

Yasuhara looked up from his book as his phone pinged. He grew excited when he saw that the notification was a text message from Eugene.

 _ **why did i decide to teach children again? G.**_

Yasuhara let out a quiet chuckle as he picked up the phone to reply.

 _ **don't know :^/ why did u? -O. YASUHARA**_

Seconds later, the phone pinged again.

 _ **busy? G.**_

Yasuhara's heart quickened, fingers shaking as he typed a reply.

 _ **am I ever? -O. YASUHARA**_

Feeling brave, Yasuhara sent a winking face as well before Eugene replied.

 ** _come save me from this. G._**

 ** _;^) to you too now get in here. G._**

 ** _please.. G._**

Shrugging, Yasuhara put a bookmark in his book and set the phone so that he could hear it ring over the basketball court intercom speaker. He then jogged to the court, stopping just before the doors and catching his breath fully before pushing them open.

"Hey." Eugene was standing against the wall, staring forward at the clock. "I don't feel like dealing with children today."

"Better than me." Yasuhara came to join him by the wall. "I never feel like dealing with children."

Eugene chuckled. "Let's all take a moment to appreciate the fact that we are not John."

"Amen!" Yasuhara clasped his hands like he was praying and looked up at the ceiling.

Eugene watched his soccer team as they ran their drills back and forth. "How's the book?"

"Confusing." Yasuhara sighed. "But awesome."

"So," Eugene shifted he weight to turn to Yasuhara while still letting the wall support him. "Explain the quantum whatever it was to me."

Yasuhara laughed, pushing up his glasses. "You have three hours?"

"As long as it takes."

"Good," Yasuhara's eyes flickered between Eugene and the wall. "Then do you have until next Christmas?"

"Well," Eugene stood up straight and turned his whistle over in his hands. "Presently I have 15 minutes to hear about quantum theory." He glanced at the clock, "However this evening…" He trailed off, giving Yasuhara a hopeful sideways glance.

At this moment, Yasuhara was faced with a perfect way to explain an aspect of quantum theory to Eugene. In his mind floated two equally terrifying and equally rewarding thoughts. Should he ask Eugene to dinner? Was Eugene wanting him to ask him to dinner? Like Schrödinger's cat, considered both dead and alive in its box, Yasuhara, in his mind, both had a date with Eugene Davis and did not. And, like the cat, he would not know the final state of the date until he asked that all important question.

"Y-you're free tonight?" Yasuhara stuttered, clasping his hands together to keep them from shaking.

Eugene grinned, "You want to get dinner together?"

Yasuhara, equally elated that Eugene had asked and disappointed that Eugene so easily asked before Yasuhara had the chance. The corners of his lips rose as he blushed. "I'd love to. I mean," He finally shoved his shaking hands into his pockets. "If you want to."

"Yasuhara," Eugene began, then shook his head. "Why does everyone call you by your last name?"

Yasuhara shrugged. "You can call me by my first, I guess. People usually just don't."

Eugene paused, suddenly unsure if he knew Yasuhara's first name. "Osamu?" He didn't mean for it to come out as a question, but it did sound that way. "Osamu," he repeated, returning to his original point. "If I hadn't wanted to, I wouldn't have asked you."

Yasuhara, blushing harder still, pushed his glasses up with one hand, taking that as a way to cover his face. "Right."

"Eight?" Eugene suggested, glancing at the soccer team, still left to their own devices.

Running shaky hands through his hair, Yasuhara nodded. "S-sounds good!" He scrambled to pull his mobile out of his pocket. "C-can I have your number?" There, he'd at least done some of the asking!

"You already have it…"

"Oh, right." Yasuhara went scarlet in the face and turned away. "I'll… Just…"

"You're adorable," Eugene chuckled. "I'll pick you up later, yeah?"

"Yeah…"

Yasuhara walked resolutely towards the door, not daring to look back at his date.

Eugene looked down to see a younger member of his soccer team tugging on his jacket sleeve. "Yeah?" Eugene couldn't shake the wide grin across his face.

"Coach!" The child pointed towards the door. "Who was that guy?"

"Oh," Eugene kneeled to eye-level with the kid. "He's my friend."

The kid's eyes narrowed. "Are you going to dinner with him?"

Eugene chuckled proudly, "Hell yeah, I am."

 _ **Thank you for reading this silliness! Special thanks to the anon that wrote the very nice review last night, that totally made my day! Also, of course, thanks to Hannah who helped me edit and finish this chapter, the last bit was her idea. Also she let me steal her "G." Thanks again for reading, review if you can!**_


	4. Chapter 4

"Fair warning." Oliver peeked his head into Eugene's room as Eugene was getting ready for dinner with Yasuhara. "Madoka is really into this whole," he paused, glancing about, "relationship with Yasuhara."

Eugene turned, straightening a thin blue tie about his neck.

"Oh? Does Madoka know?" Eugene blushed. He had not considered the fact that his relationship with Yasuhara could become the object of gossip at work.  
Oliver nodded.

"Well." He came to sit down on his brother's bed. "She thinks she knows."

Eugene hummed, turning again to examine himself in the mirror.

"How do I look?"

"Fine." Oliver glanced down. "You wearing those shoes?"

"Yes, why?" Eugene suddenly looked panicked. "Do they look bad?"

Oliver smirked, "Calm down, I was just going to tell you that those are my shoes."

Eugene laughed nervously, "Oh, sorry. Can I borrow them?"

Oliver nodded as he stood to leave the room.

"Good luck!" he called back over his shoulder as he shut his bedroom door behind him.

Eugene shivered, checking his hair in the mirror one more time. He couldn't believe he was finally going to go to dinner with Yasuhara. A date! This had to be perfect, he thought, straightening the buckle of his belt for the third time. Once he was satisfied with his appearance, he checked his watch. It was half past seven and, according to his phone's navigation app, it only took him about ten minutes to get to Yasuhara's apartment from his home. He was so nervous to be late that he was now at least fifteen minutes early.

Annoyed, he fell backwards onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling and counting the seconds. When he observed how slowly the time seemed to pass, he chuckled quietly to himself, imagining Yasuhara sharing some silly conspiracy about the relativity of time's passage or how time is a social construct more than a real thing. Maybe that's what he should tell Yasuhara, Eugene thought, laughing to himself, that he was early because time is a social construct and therefore doesn't matter.

X~X~X

Yasuhara was panicked.

Eugene would be knocking on his apartment door any minute and he had yet to put on a shirt. Trying his best not to let nervousness get the best of him, he had taken his time getting ready, making tea to calm his nerves and ironing his jeans for no reason at all. Though, at first, he was proud of himself for keeping his cool, it was now ten minutes until eight and he was hardly ready.

He held two shirts up on their hangers and examined them. One was plain blue and the other white with small, gray dots. He liked the blue because it complimented his dark hair, but chose the dotted shirt because he was afraid Eugene would show up in blue, to match his gorgeous eyes, and they would match. He finally threw on the dotted shirt, after glancing at the clock to see he only had seven minutes until eight.

Now he was faced with choosing a tie, or deciding if he even wanted to wear a tie. He was terrible at choosing his ties. Deciding that he couldn't do this alone, he picked up his phone and dialed the number of someone that he knew could help.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end was confused, if not a little annoyed.

"Hey, Lin?" Yasuhara balanced the phone between his shoulder and cheek as he pilfered through his drawer to see his options.

"Who is this?" Lin asked in his usual monotone. His voice was muffled, he must have been driving.

"Yasuhara," he picked a handful of ties out of the drawer and laid them out on the bed. "The front desk guy."

"May I ask why you're calling?" He didn't sound any less confused or annoyed.

"Listen," he did not have time for this, "I need advice on what tie to wear. I see how, on twitter, you talk about the new ties you get and you always wear those cool, cropped shirts so you seem pretty fashion forward. Look, I'm panicked and you were the first person I thought to call. I need help."

Lin said nothing so Yasuhara took this as a sign that he could continue.

"I am wearing a white shirt with gray dots, what color tie should I wear?"

There was a pause before Lin answered, "Are you wearing slacks?"

"No, I'm wearing dark jeans."

"Hm." Lin hummed as he considered. "Do you have any thin, square ties?"

Yasuhara examined the small collection of ties on his bed.

"Yeah, I have a dark purple one and a black one."

"Purple if you want to impress her, black if you want her to think you're responsible."

"Her?" Yasuhara picked up the purple tie and started to tie it around his neck.

"The girl you're going on a date with." Yasuhara could practically hear Lin rolling his eyes over the phone.

"Oh, right." Yasuhara chuckled. "Thank you, Lin."

"Right." Lin hung up on him immediately.

As Yasuhara debated over whether he should tuck his shirt in or not, he heard a tentative knock on the door. Leaving his shirt untucked, he ran to the door and pulled it open to see Eugene's smiling face.

"Hey," Yasuhara breathed. He immediately noticed that Eugene was wearing slacks and a real tie. Was he under-dressed? Was it too late to change? But could he ever really look as good as Eugene did? Yasuhara didn't think so somehow.

"Ready?" Eugene asked, hooking his thumbs into his pockets.

Yasuhara nodded, Eugene's warm smile making him forget his worry. Before he could make it out of the house, he glanced down and realized he had forgotten his shoes.

"Oh, wait!" He ran back inside and returned a minute later, shoes on, his shirt now tucked in. "Okay, now I'm ready."

Eugene laughed, but was glad he wasn't the only one that was a complete nervous wreck.

"Let's go."

Once they were both in the car, Eugene turned to Yasuhara.

"Buckle up." He winked. "I'm kind of a terrible driver."

"How bad is 'kind of'?" Yasuhara laughed.

Eugene glanced in the rear-view mirror and signaled to pull the car out into the street.

"Just buckle up."

At first, Eugene's driving was harmless enough, until at the end of the block he lurched to a stop at a yield sign.

"Sorry!" He laughed nervously, throwing a furtive glance in Yasuhara's direction. "Always been a terrible driver, but I've never gotten into a wreck."

"That's reassuring." Yasuhara's face was ashen.

"You like Italian?" Eugene attempted to change the subject.

"Sure!" Yasuhara shook his head as if to clear the worry from his mind. He was on a date with Eugene Davis and he wasn't going to let Eugene's awful driving scare him out of having a good time.

They sat in relative silence, tapping nervous fingers along to the beat of the music playing quietly in Eugene's car. The silence was strange. Eugene, who was always at ease, was acting nervous and Yasuhara, who usually never shut up, was not speaking. Luckily, they didn't have to risk Eugene's terrible driving for long, as the restaurant was close to Yasuhara's apartment.

"We're alive!" Eugene chuckled as he opened his door. Yasuhara giggled along with him.

"You're not that bad..." he said, shaking as he climbed out of Eugene's car. "Just... Mildly awful...?"

"You know," Eugene said as he closed his car door behind him. "I think that's the grade I made on my driving test: MA for Mildly Awful."

Yasuhara shook his head, following Eugene into the restaurant.

"How did you even pass a driving test?"

Eugene held the door open for Yasuhara to pass through.

"By being unnaturally talented at parallel parking."

"Really?"

Eugene nodded.

"They mark high points for that."

Yasuhara could feel nervousness easing away, he had talked with Eugene before, this was not a big deal.

"Hold on." Eugene placed his hand lightly on Yasuhara's arm as he pushed past him to get to the hostess. "I booked a table for two, please," he told her.  
"The name?" she asked, looking down at her roster.

"Davis."

Yasuhara felt a small pang of jealousy at Eugene's easy conversation with the hostess. She obviously found him attractive. Then again, everyone did.  
"This way." She took two menus and motioned for the couple to follow her.

Yasuhara and Eugene were seated at a small, round table near the back of the restaurant. They thanked the hostess in turn and began to look over their menus.

"T-thanks," Yasuhara croaked. "For asking me to dinner."

Eugene grinned at Yasuhara over his menu.

"No problem! Thank you for coming with me."

The rest of dinner went smoothly, both boys beginning to relax and enjoy each other's company. As they ate, they talked about a book Eugene had read recently and that conversation devolved into gossip about people at work.

"So are Ayako and Houshou still together?" Eugene asked, pointing in the air with half of a breadstick. "Or, whatever you want to call what they are?"

"A mess?" Yasuhara suggested, taking a small sip from his iced tea. He shrugged. "I'm not really sure, I mean, I think they're still together-ish?"

"My theory is that they'll be on again and off again until they suddenly elope in the middle of the night and we never see them again."

"Maybe they'll get married and have their reception in the broom closet." Yasuhara twirled spaghetti onto his fork, trying to hold in his laughter at his own joke.

Eugene gave Yasuhara a sly look over his glass as he sipped lemonade. "I'm sure they'll make use of the broom closet somehow..."

"Eugene!" Yasuhara's voice was a raspy groan. "That closet is right by my desk, I don't appreciate the imagery."

By the time the couple had finished their dinner, they were already making plans to go somewhere else as an excuse to stay together longer. Yasuhara suggested taking a walk, proud of himself for the somewhat forward idea. A walk was romantic territory. Then again, so was dinner.

At any rate, Eugene readily agreed to the idea of a walk.

The restaurant they had eaten at was downtown, and Eugene's car was parked in a common parking lot just behind it so they would be able to walk down the main street of downtown without moving his car.

The faint summer breeze blew them along the sidewalk. At first, Eugene and Yasuhara both had their hands stuffed into their pockets. They walked along, somewhat silently, commenting occasionally on the blooming trees and the retro-style neon lights of the downtown businesses. This silence was different from the nervous, charged silence in the car before. They were comfortable together, and enjoyed each other's presence.

As they walked, Eugene's hand slowly ventured out of his pocket and came to swing beside him next to his date. Yasuhara felt Eugene's hand brush against an exposed bit of his forearm. Holding his breath, he let his hand fall out of his pocket and brush against Eugene's. With all grace and care, Eugene's hand folded around Yasuhara's.

Eugene gave Yasuhara a hopeful glance, looking for signs of approval.

"This okay?" he asked, lifting their hands slightly.

Yasuhara only nodded, a blush spreading across his face. He hoped silently that it was now too dark for his blush to be evident.

"Eugene?"

Eugene looked back over his shoulder, not letting go of Yasuhara's hand as he turned. He made eye contact with the owner of the voice.

"Ayako?" he asked, trying to make out the face in the dark. She was standing next to a taller man, who Eugene realized was Houshou.

Yasuhara gently let go of Eugene's hand, turning slowly.

"H-hey Ayako." he tried to sound casual, but he was afraid that Ayako and Houshou already knew what was going on. Ayako had already glanced at the space in between Eugene and Yasuhara, where only moments ago, they had been holding hands.

"I didn't know you two were..." Ayako trailed off.

"Yeah!" Eugene laughed. "We just-"

"No, we're not." Yasuhara cut him off, shoving his shaking hands in his pockets. "We just both happened to be out."

He pushed past Eugene and strode to the end of the road, stopping to wait to cross to the other side of the street. He hoped to walk back towards the lot where Eugene had parked as soon as possible.

Eugene looked confused.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, okay?" He smiled at Ayako and Houshou and left them, walking casually to meet Yasuhara at the crosswalk.

Joining with Yasuhara as he waited for it to be okay to cross the street, Eugene's face returned to a frown.

"Um," he began to reach his hand towards Yasuhara's arm before thinking better of it. "You okay?"

"I'm just not sure I want them to know." The pedestrian light turned and Yasuhara began to cross the street. "About us, if there is an us."

Eugene followed him, keeping at the same pace.

"Is there not an us?"

Yasuhara shrugged, his voice raised just slightly.

"We've been on one date." He glanced up at the sky, collecting his thoughts and taking a deep breath. "And nobody really knows that we're..."

Eugene glanced down at the pavement.

"I mean, I thought we were close before. I thought this just made it official."

"We were!" Yasuhara turned his head to meet Eugene's gaze. His voice softened, "are."

"Then why…?"

"Because it's not just an easy thing! People don't really know that I'm-"

"Gay? Bisexual?" Eugene interrupted. "Are you not out?"

"It's not just as easy as coming out, Eugene! Not everything is as easy as you make it seem." Yasuhara stared down at his shaking hands.

Eugene's voice took on a helpful tone.

"Do your parents know?"

Yasuhara nodded.

"They didn't take it well." he mumbled, not offering any more information.

They were almost to Eugene's car now, and Eugene couldn't think of anything to say, so he said nothing. They climbed into the car.

"I'm sorry." Yasuhara breathed.

Eugene sighed, turning down the music that had started playing when he turned his car on. "Don't apologize." He turned the headlights on and put the carinto drive. "We'll figure it out."

 ** _AHH I suppose this was angst? Let me know how you feel because I don't write anything sad ever. I just finished reading a book called It Looks Like This by Rafi Mittlefehldt which is about consequences of families' negative reactions to their sons coming out as gay. It was a wonderful book and really hit close to home for me as a (somewhat) closeted bisexual in a very Southern Christian family. This kind of made me really emo about Yasuhara and his parents since I read the book after writing this chapter. Anyways! Surely next chapter will prove to be more fun, but hey, you did get a Yasune date that was mostly good! Thanks to Hannah (Snavej) for beta reading! Rate and review if you don't mind! -Bee_**


	5. Chapter 5

After Eugene dropped Yasuhara off at his apartment, he sat in his car, watching Yasuhara's retreating figure. Eugene told himself that he was watching to make sure that Yasuhara got in the door safely, but he was really just staring. Yasuhara turned back and gave Eugene a weak smile and a little wave before entering the apartment and shutting the door behind him. Sighing, Eugene pulled the car out into the street and began towards home.

When he got home, Eugene carefully removed his shoes in the entryway as he shut the door. He picked up the shoes and carried them up to Oliver's room.

"Here," he said, placing the shoes on the floor just inside his brother's bedroom. "Thanks for letting me wear them."

Oliver was laying in his bed on top of the covers, reading a book.

"No problem." he glanced at his brother over his book and frowned. "Date go terribly?"

Eugene coughed, not meeting his brother's eyes.

"No."

"Then why do you look so glum?" He raised an eyebrow. "Crash your car on the way home?"

Eugene sighed, ignoring Oliver's disapproving look as he sat down on the edge of his bed.

"It was really great," he smiled fondly. "But we saw Ayako and Houshou from work."

Oliver didn't reply, unsure of how this was a huge problem.

"Osamu denied that we were together, he's apparently not out."

"Are you out?" Oliver closed his book and sat up. "I don't recall you formally telling anyone you were interested in men."

"I mentioned it to Mum and Dad." Eugene shrugged. "I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but apparently Osamu's parents reacted poorly when he told them so he seems to think that everyone else is just as disapproving."

"Hmm." Oliver yawned, picking his book back up. "You're both smart, you'll work it out."

Eugene's eyes narrowed.

"That's all the advice you have? That we're smart and we'll work it out?"

"Yeah." Oliver shrugged. "Why do you always think I'm an expert on these sorts of things?"

"Because you claim to be an expert on everything."

"Well, I'm not." Oliver sighed. "Though I'm an expert on a lot of things, I don't think I know anything about dating that you aren't well aware of."  
Eugene pouted, but did not argue.

"Goodnight, Noll," he said, already in the hallway between their bedrooms.

Eugene ran his hands through his hair, unsure of what to do. He began to pull off his tie and get ready for bed. Undressed, he laid down and stared up at the ceiling, trying to decide if there was anything he _could_ do.

He hated that he would have to go to work the next morning and face Ayako and Houshou. He hated even more that Yasuhara would have to do the same. As he tried in vain to sleep, he wondered what the next day would be like at work. What would Yasuhara be like after such a strange end to their date? Would there be gossip about them?

He turned over, reaching for the phone on his bedside table and called Yasuhara. He was slightly tentative about calling right after a date, under normal circumstances he would find that incredibly lame. However, he would rather be lame than have to go to work the next morning not knowing if Yasuhara was going to be okay.

Yasuhara answered after the second ring.

"Eugene?"

Eugene sat up, he had half-expected Yasuhara not to answer at all.

"H-hey."

"You know it's not proper to call right after a first date," Yasuhara joked, Eugene could hear that he must be smiling. That was good.

"I was just thinking that," Eugene laughed. "But I wanted to make sure you were okay."

There was a pause before Yasuhara replied.

"I'm better." He took a deep breath. "I really am sorry for earlier, I realize that my denial probably hurt your feelings quite a bit..."

Eugene frowned, but didn't let it affect his voice.

"No, it's really okay." he chuckled nervously, his frown fading. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I dunno," Yasuhara mumbled. Eugene could tell he felt uncomfortable.

"We don't have to," he hastened to add.

"No, it would probably be a good idea to talk about it. I just feel… Awkward."

"It's okay, just start from the beginning. I've got all night! I have nowhere important to be tomorrow," Eugene told him.

"Nowhere important? We have work tomorrow!"

"Like I said, nothing important. Nothing more important than you, anyway…"

Eugene heard Yasuhara chuckle.

"Smooth," he commented before taking a deep breath. "Um, so my parents were very old-fashioned. They didn't, like, go to church a whole lot or anything but they still had that… Mindset, I guess?"

Eugene hummed as he repositioned himself to sit up in bed.

"There wasn't some profound, sudden realization that I liked guys, I don't _think._ I was in Student Council and focused a lot on school work, I assumed for a long time I was just too busy to think about girls. My third year, I just kind of realized I didn't like girls."

Eugene chuckled quietly.

"I'm trying to imagine you as a hard-working student that didn't spend all of their time reading up on conspiracy theories."

"Who said I didn't still like conspiracies? I was plenty nerdy, being in Student Council and all."

"Oh, well, I'm glad to know you haven't changed too much."

Despite himself, Yasuhara let out a shaky laugh.

"Anyways," he continued. "There was a guy, also in Student Council, and I thought he was cute. We began to talk but the relationship never surpassed the stage of sending flirtatious text messages."

Yasuhara sighed before continuing.

"I thought maybe it would amount to something so I made up my mind to come out to my parents one night at dinner, and-" He realized that he was speaking quickly from nerves and paused to slow himself down.

Again, Eugene hummed sympathetically to let Yasuhara know he was still listening.

"My mother cried and my dad made a huge fuss," he continued, his voice wavering slightly. "After that, they basically dropped me. My grades dropped and I resigned from Student Council, because when my parents stopped caring, so did I."

"But you're in university now, right?" Eugene prodded, trying to inject some hope into the conversation.

"Yeah, I got in on my old test scores, but I have to work two jobs to pay for tuition and rent and everything else since I'm completely on my own," Yasuhara explained. "I took the front desk job because I'm allowed to study while I'm at work and I also work as a private tutor at a school."

"I remember you mentioning that, now, but I didn't think anything of it."

"Really, after the way my parents acted, I'm glad that I'm on my own now. I just can't shake this feeling, though, that other people will reject me like they did, I guess." Yasuhara's voice cracked slightly.

"Hey," Eugene's voice softened. "If people reject you that way, they aren't worth your time."

Yasuhara let out a shaky breath, but did not reply.

"I like you a lot so there's one person who won't reject you," Eugene continued. "And I know for a fact that my family will accept you. Just today, my brother called you smart! That's an incredible compliment coming from Noll."

Yasuhara chuckled lightly.

"This is just so new," he squeaked. "I'm not used to being open about this."

"That's okay, I'm new to this too."

"Are you really?" Yasuhara sounded surprised.

"Yep!" Eugene answered, popping the 'p' to emphasize his point. "I mean, I dated girls in High School, but never dated a guy." He grinned slyly, "Why are you so surprised?"

"You just seem so confident!"

"I winked at you one time and you got really blushy and it was super cute." Eugene chuckled. "So I started winking at you all the time."

"Oh my god, Eugene!"

"I apologize."

"Good."

"Doesn't mean I'm going to stop…"

"Eugene!" Yasuhara could feel heat rushing to his face and was suddenly glad that Eugene couldn't see his blush over the phone.

"So what are we going to do about Houshou and Ayako?" Eugene stifled a yawn as he attempted to return to the subject at hand.

"Hmm." Yasuhara paused, formulating his answer carefully. "I think we should just tell them the truth, that we are dating and when they saw us I got embarrassed and evaded the situation."

"So, we're dating, huh?" Eugene teased.

Yasuhara spluttered, "I mean, aren't we?"

"I'd like to be."

"Good, so would I." Yasuhara decided.

"Are you sure you want to tell them, though?" Eugene asked gently. "We don't have to if you're not comfortable."

Yasuhara yawned and Eugene could hear bedsheets shifting over the phone.

"I think it's the best thing to do. I have a feeling it'll work out."

"Okay." Eugene smiled, feeling a weight lifted off his chest. "Get some sleep, alright?"

"See you in the morning?"

"In the morning. Night, Osamu."

Saying Yasuhara's first name still felt strange to Eugene, but it also felt special, like he was the only one who was allowed to call him that.

"Goodnight."

As Eugene hung up, he heaved a sigh of relief, now he felt as though he could rest at ease. However, no sooner had he set his phone down and settled into bed when he heard the distinct creak of his bedroom door opening.

"Did you get it settled?" Oliver asked in a quiet voice.

In the back of his mind, Eugene wondered how loud his conversation had been, or if Oliver had been listening at the door…

"We talked about it and I think he's doing better."

Crossing his arms, Oliver raised his eyebrows at Eugene. This was Oliver's signature "I told you so" look.

"See?" he goaded. "No reason to make things complicated."

Eugene shrugged but said nothing to defend himself.

"So you are _officially_ dating?" Oliver inquired, leaning against the door frame.

Eugene nodded.

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Oliver shrugged. "It's just strange that you didn't tell me."

"I didn't think you'd care." Eugene chuckled.

Oliver suppressed a laugh.

"I care a little bit."

"Hmm." Eugene leaned back onto his headboard. "Good to know."

Oliver rolled his eyes.

"Goodnight, Eugene."

Eugene shut his eyes, already feeling peaceful sleep washing over him.

"Night, Noll."

X~X~X

The next morning, Eugene jolted awake. His unconscious brain had remembered something that Yasuhara had mentioned about Houshou always being the first person to get to work. This realization startled Eugene from sleep.

He jumped up, knowing that he'd have to beat Houshou to work, in case he tried to question Yasuhara about what had taken place the night before.

He rushed to get dressed and brush his teeth. He took time to properly comb his hair only because he would be seeing his boyfriend after all. Boyfriend. The word alone made Eugene feel silly with joy. It seemed so strange to him, yet it was also perfect.

Once Eugene was ready, he left the house and got in his car. As he pulled out of the driveway, he began debating to himself over whether he had time to stop for doughnuts on the way. Though he was unsure of what time Houshou would arrive, he figured if he were late and there was an awkward confrontation, he could fix it with doughnuts. Every awkward conversation could probably be fixed with doughnuts.

Probably.

X~X~X

Eugene arrived at the gym, with doughnuts, at 5:00AM. He was relieved to see that the only car parked outside was Yasuhara's orange two door. The car was covered in a layer of dust as Yasuhara had not had the funds or the time to get washed.

"Good morning, handsome!" Eugene flashed a bright smile as he burst through the door, doughnuts in hand.

Yasuhara startled, fumbling with the stack of membership mailouts he was addressing.

"Eugene!" Yasuhara hid his blushing face behind one of the postcards. "You scared me!"

Eugene chuckled, setting the box of doughnuts on Yasuhara's desk.

"This make up for it?"

Yasuhara prodded the box open with his index finger.

"Maybe." He pulled a chocolate sprinkled one out of the box hesitating slightly before taking a bite and winking experimentally in his boyfriend's direction.

Eugene smiled, shaking his head at the awkward attempt at a wink.

"Really?" He laughed, taking a maple doughnut out of the box. "I thought we agreed that was my thing."

A light blush spread over Yasuhara's cheeks as he swallowed.

"I never agreed to that," he mumbled.

"Really, I thought you had." Eugene raised an eyebrow.

"Listen!" Yasuhara pushed his glasses up and the lenses caught the light. "I am trying to flirt and you're not letting me!"

"Maybe if you did a better job of it…" Eugene glanced away.

"Eugene!" Yasuhara protested.

Eugene held his hands up defensively in front of him, stifling a laugh.

"I'm kidding!" He laughed. "I am your boyfriend, aren't I? I have to appreciate your attempts at 'flirting' at least to an extent in order to be your boyfriend," he argued, making air quotes around the word.

Yasuhara fake-pouted and looked down, fumbling with a pen as he returned to addressing mailouts.

At this, Eugene leaned over Yasuhara's desk so that their heads were almost touching. He said nothing, but stayed there waiting for Yasuhara to look up.

"Why are you here so early?" Yasuhara prodded, attempting to change the subject.

"Your hair smells nice," Eugene commented, not moving.

Yasuhara wheeled his chair backwards, making an escape. He took a small breath, summoning his courage.

"You want to go see a movie tonight?"

Yasuhara couldn't help but feel pride with the words. He was finally taking initiative in the relationship, asking Eugene for once. It felt nice, and he could tell Eugene was pleasantly surprised.

Despite himself, Eugene felt his heartbeat quicken.

"Absolutely." He grinned.

"Good." Yasuhara smiled back. "Now you should probably get to work since you're here." Yasuhara winked again and it was more natural this time.

Eugene couldn't help but blush. "Right."

 ** _Hello! Thank you for reading as always! I hope this chapter was a little more cute and happy than the last chapter! Thanks to Hannah (Snavej) for beta reading and to all of you that have left ratings and reviews! -Bee_**


	6. Chapter 6

Yasuhara tapped his pen nervously on his desk, jumping at every sound. Despite his resolve from the previous night's conversation, he was apprehensive once more. He was willing, now to explain to Houshou and Ayako that he and Eugene were dating, but he couldn't will away his nerves.

Trying in vain to calm down, Yasuhara returned to his book, munching absentmindedly on an uneaten half of a doughnut from the box Eugene had brought.

No sooner had his mind slipped into the narrative of the novel than the door swung open to reveal a whistling Houshou.

Yasuhara gulped, expecting a face-off against the tall maintenance person. However, Houshou seemed to have forgotten all about the awkward situation the night before. He simply continued whistling his tune as he clocked in.

Sighing, Yasuhara watched Houshou. Both relieved and somehow disappointed.

"What?" Houshou gave him a sideways glance and raised his eyebrow in question.

Yasuhara felt his face heat up.

"Nothing," his face lit up in a fake grin.

Houshou's expression didn't change, and Yasuhara could tell that he was not convinced.

"I wanted to let you know," Yasuhara took a breath. "That Eugene and I were on a date last night. When you saw us. We're kind of together and I ran away because I was embarrassed."

Houshou grinned, turning to face Yasuhara fully.

"I knew it!" he chuckled, pumping a fist slightly in the air. "Ayako didn't believe me."

He leaned in, cupping a hand around his mouth as if sharing a secret.

"Secretly I think she was hoping Eugene was straight because she thinks he's hot."

"Oh he is!" Yasuhara said, and then blushed, realizing he should be more clear.

"He's bisexual, I mean." he shook his head, laughing nervously. "But dating me so…"

"And hot." Houshou added.

"What?"

"You agreed to him being hot." he teased, voice lilting.

"Oh," Yasuhara rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah… Freudian slip, right?"

Houshou laughed, rounding Yasuhara's desk.

"Congrats, man." he grinned, slinking through the door and leaving Yasuhara alone.

Yasuhara looked down at his hands, unable to keep the relieved smile off of his face. He picked up his phone and drafted a message to Eugene.

 _ **told houshou, he was really cool about it :^) O. YASUHARA**_

Seconds later, Yasuhara received a reply.

 _ **yay! see! I told you it would be okay G.**_

Yasuhara smiled at his phone, but he was unsure of what to say. He typed a simple reply, but then paused. He erased his default text signature and retyped just his first name before sending.

 ** _thank you. Osamu_**

X~X~X

Eugene smiled at the name on his phone screen. He gently tucked his phone back in his pocket as he began jogging around the gym again. A few minutes later, Eugene decided that he was tired of running, so he gathered his water bottle and towel and set towards the showers.

Eugene ruffled his hair as he headed towards the showers, deciding it wouldn't hurt to look tastefully disheveled. He pushed the door open and passed through, slowing considerably as he passed by Yasuhara's desk. Awkwardly, he hoped that Yasuhara would notice the way his shirt clung to his torso.

"Have a good run?" Yasuhara asked, bookmarking his novel.

Eugene beamed, ruffling his hands through his hair again.

"Yeah!" he nodded. "Helps clear the mind, really."

Eugene smirked, noticing Yasuhara's eyes flicker to his chest.

"Why do you always look so perfect?" Yasuhara praised. "It's so not fair."

Yasuhara, finding new confidence in the successful conversation with Houshou, allowed his voice to take on a flirtatious tone as he said this. Causing Eugene's confident smile to falter.

"I do not always look perfect," Eugene countered, regaining composure. "I always look…"

"Decent enough." Yasuhara finished for him. "Like Elizabeth Bennet."

Eugene laughed, "Yes but you are nowhere near being my Darcy." he paused, laughing. "If anyone is Darcy, it's my brother…" Eugene continued, glancing at the door as if Oliver would appear in front of him on command.

"But that's weird." Yasuhara chuckled. "So let's stick with perfect." he smirked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Fine!" Eugene sighed melodramatically. "If I must be perfect, then it shall be!"

With a flourish, Eugene twirled out the door towards the showers, smiling at Yasuhara as he went.

X~X~X

By the time the gym was officially open, Yasuhara had noticed that two people were absent. He had not seen Mai or Lin come through the door yet. As he opened the doors and made the morning announcement, he heard the phone ring.

"SPR Gym and Recreational Center." he answered. "This is Yasuhara."

"Hey, Yasu." Mai sniffled on the other line. Yasuhara heard her sneeze.

"What's up?" he leaned back in his chair.

"I'm sick." Mai coughed into the phone.

Yasuhara cringed and held the phone further away from his face as if the germs could travel over the telephone line.

"Okay, I'll mark you down."

Mai sniffled, "Thanks, Yasu!"

Yasuhara hung up the phone and marked Mai's name on a whiteboard with a note that said she was not coming in because she was sick. Checking the calendar, he saw that Lin had specifically taken the day off. There was no note on the calendar to tell why he had asked the day off, so Yasuhara made up his mind to call and check. Of all the days for Mai to be sick, it had to be the day that Lin is gone.

Hesitantly, Yasuhara picked up the phone and dialed Lin's number.

"Lin." he answered tersely.

Yasuhara startled at the quick reply.

"Hey," he began nervously. "Is there any way you could come into work today?"

Lin didn't skip a beat.

"No."

"Okay!" Yasuhara laughed awkwardly. "Do you know of anyone that could teach yoga class? Mai is sick."

"No." Lin replied immediately. "Good luck."

"Um, thanks?" Yasuhara said, but Lin had already hung up.

Yasuhara stared at the PA system, considering who he could ask to teach yoga. Of course, he could just cancel the classes, but he knew that the boss wouldn't be happy with that. When problems like this happened, it was his job to fix them. He decided finally to call Ayako. What did she even do all day anyway?

"Ayako to the front office please. Ayako to the front office." he announced over the PA, realizing all at once that he had yet to explain to her his behavior the night before.

Ayako pushed open the door and came to stand before the front desk with her hands on her hips. She was clad in her usual pink tracksuit and twirling her ponytail in annoyance.

"What?" she snapped.

Yasuhara, startled by her poor mood faltered.

"Lin and Mai are both out today." Yasuhara managed a civil grin. "I need you to cover their yoga classes."

"What makes you think I have time to do that?" Ayako glared.

Yasuhara shrugged, "The fact that you only have one class of your own to teach today gives me an inkling."

Glowering, Ayako flipped her ponytail back over her shoulder and stormed towards the door.

"So you've got it covered?" Yasuhara questioned, suppressing a chuckle.

Ayako pushed the door open with the back of her forearm.

"Fine!" she sighed.

Yasuhara grinned, taking note of his replacement on the whiteboard behind his desk.

"Thank you!" he called after her, though she was already likely out of earshot.

X~X~X

"Okay," Ayako glanced about the room at her first yoga class of the day. "Both of our yoga teachers are out today, so I am your replacement."

The class tittered politely.

"Everyone take a deep breath and get into the cross-legged pose." she instructed.

Ayako was quickly realizing that everything she knew about yoga was what she learned during the period of time that she had had a crush on Lin.  
From the back of the class, Oliver was contemplating whether he should stay in the class or quietly slip out. He had only been attending the yoga class for Mai's sake, and if she was not here to teach the class then there was no point in him suffering through a yoga routine.

"Keep breathing." Ayako instructed, trying to sound like she knew what she was doing. "Keep your shoulders tense. Tense the muscles in your back."

Oliver shook his head. Was the whole idea of yoga not relaxation? Slowly, he stood, glancing at the clock. He rolled his mat up and quietly left the room.

Madoka gave Oliver a confused look as she saw him exit the yoga studio. She waved him over to the treadmill where she was standing with her client.

"Something wrong?" she asked, crossing her arms.

Oliver shook his head, chuckling lightly.

"Ayako's teaching class today, Mai isn't here." he explained. "Ayako does not know the first thing about yoga, either."

"Should we tell Yasuhara?" Madoka sounded concerned. "If she doesn't know what she's doing, we might get complaints."

Oliver waved the comment away with his hand. "I'm not really inclined to interfere."

A sly grin spread across Madoka's face.

"Are you bitter because Mai isn't here?" she teased. "Is that why you're acting so indifferent?"

Oliver knitted his eyebrows.

"I'm always indifferent." he deadpanned as he turned to walk away.

"That's a lie and you know it!" she argued. "Where are you going?"

"Front desk," Oliver answered over his shoulder.

"To tell Yasuhara about Ayako?" Madoka prodded.

Oliver shook his head.

"To see why Mai isn't here."

It was all Madoka could do not to squeal. She was so sure that Oliver had feelings for Mai! Now if only she could get him to open up more to her…

"Excuse me?"

Madoka's scheming was interrupted by her client, now just standing still on the treadmill.

"I've been running for thirty minutes." the client complained. "Should't we move on?"

Madoka's shoulders fell.

"Right. Let's get you on some weights."

X~X~X

Oliver stood awkwardly next to the front desk as he waited for Yasuhara to finish a phone call.

"Yes, ma'am. Okay." Yasuhara rolled his eyes at the phone. "Okay, have a nice day."

Annoyed, Yasuhara set the phone down and turned towards Oliver. Oliver saw a tiny flicker of a grin as Yasuhara mistook him for his twin which quickly faded when Yasuhara realized his mistake.

"Don't look too disappointed." Oliver said, frowning.

"Sorry," Yasuhara smiled. "You must get tired of people mistaking you for Eugene."

"I'm used to it by now." Oliver shrugged.

Yasuhara let out a nervous chuckle.

"What can I help you with?" he quickly shifted the conversation.

Oliver straightened, remembering his original purpose.

"Why is Mai not here today?" he asked.

"Oh," Yasuhara vaguely recalled something Eugene had said about the nature of Mai and Oliver's friendship. He could hardly imagine Oliver really liking or being in a relationship with anyone, so he could not believe that Oliver would actually ask after Mai.

"She's sick," he explained.

Oliver's eyebrows knitted.

"Is she okay?" he asked, his voice still steady.

Yasuhara could not help but grin at Oliver's response.

"She has a cold." he clarified, then leaned towards Oliver. "Do you want to call her and ask her yourself?"

"Absolutely not." Oliver replied flatly, then softened. "Thank you."

Yasuhara smiled, picking up a pen and twirling it in his fingers.

"No problem! If you change your mind let me know…" he teased.

"I'll be sure to-" Oliver was interrupted by the door swinging open.

Eugene ambled through the door, drying his hair with a small towel. He slowed as he made eye contact with his twin.

"What's up?" Eugene's eyes flickered between Yasuhara's desk and Oliver as he grinned at both of them in turn.

Oliver opened his mouth to answer but did not speak.

"Mai has a cold," Yasuhara's voice lilted. "Oliver was asking after her."

Eugene beamed, catching the meaning in Yasuhara's tone.

"Oh, is that so?" he leaned towards his brother. "Was Oliver asking off of work to go check on her?"

Oliver spluttered, "No, I was just-"

Yasuhara raised his eyebrows at Eugene who mirrored his expression. The pair turned in unison towards Oliver, looking him up and down as he struggled to explain himself.

"I was just about to tell Oliver that he didn't have any clients and that he would be free to go check on her if he was so inclined..."

Oliver glared, not responding and Eugene took this as grounds to continue teasing him.

"Are you so inclined?" he nudged Oliver lightly. "Because I'm almost certain that you are."

"How can you be so sure?" Oliver crossed his arms, his cool facade faltering.

"I don't know," Eugene replied in a sarcastic tone, shrugging. "You're at least inclined to ask after her." he leaned back onto Yasuhara's desk and appeared deep in thought. "I know my brother, and I know that Oliver Davis leaves nothing unfinished."

Yasuhara, nodding in agreement, turned from Eugene to look again at Oliver.

"Do you want to call her?" he asked gently, giving a warm smile. He held out Mai's number written on a hot pink sticky note and waved it slightly before Oliver's face.

Sighing, Oliver took the sticky note and made his escape, leaving Eugene and Yasuhara alone in the office.

"So who's teaching Mai's and Lin's classes?" Eugene asked, changing the subject now with Oliver gone.

Yasuhara heaved an exaggerated sigh, rubbing his hands through his hair.

"Ayako is." Yasuhara answered finally. "I've had two complaints already."

Eugene held back a chuckle, "Really?"

Yasuhara nodded.

"Is there anyone else that can do it?" Eugene prodded, giving a gentle smile.

Yasuhara shook his head.

"I don't think so."

Eugene glanced about, seeming to ponder the possibilities of Mai's replacement.

"What about John?" he asked finally. "John always makes me feel at ease, honestly."

Yasuhara knitted his brows.

"Who will watch the kids?"

Shrugging, Eugene answered, "I could."

"But you have coaching things to do." Yasuhara appealed.

Eugene stroked his chin, considering.

"Ayako can fill in for me and I'll fill in for John." he placed a hand on his hip. "Problem solved, and I'll be right over there all day." he concluded, jutting a thumb toward the daycare room door.

After a small amount of further convincing from Eugene, Yasuhara conceded and called Ayako and John up to make the switch as soon as Ayako's first class had ended.

"Really?" Ayako asked, surprised. "I thought I was doing pretty well!" she twirled her ponytail and something about her stature gave away that she really did not care whether she was teaching yoga or not.

"I fail to see how I am qualified to teach yoga," John spluttered. "And I'm wearing blue jeans!"

Eugene held a hand up, smiling comfortingly.

"I'll let you borrow my sweatpants, John." he turned to Ayako. "I'm sure you were doing a great job, but now you don't have to worry about it!"

John pouted, "Yoga was not in my job description."

"Yeah," Yasuhara interrupted. "But you're the most serene person in this gym."

John blushed, waving both hands in front of him as he spluttered an incoherent reply.

Eugene placed a hand on John's shoulder and wheeled him out the door and towards the yoga room, muttering attempts to boost his confidence. Yasuhara was left with Ayako momentarily, waiting for Eugene to return.

"Will he really be a better yoga instructor than me?" Ayako questioned, folder her arms defensively across her chest.

Yasuhara stifled a laugh as he recalled the complaints citing that Ayako 'didn't even know what yoga was'.

He shrugged, "We'll see how he does."

 _ **updated! I'm sorry for making you wait so long while Yasuhara and Eugene were at a bit of a low point! thank you so much to Hannah (Snavej) for editing and to all of you for reading and for being patient with me. please rate and review if you have the time! -Bee**_


	7. Chapter 7

At the end of the day, after all of the gym patrons and part time teachers were gone, Yasuhara switched off the main lights that would not be needed for Houshou's nightly cleaning. He made sure all of the doors were locked before taking his book, a novel about a young funeral director in training, and car keys and setting out the door. When he got into his car, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and began typing out a text to Eugene.

 _ **just leaving work, are you ready? ;^) OSAMU**_

He sent the text and then threw his phone unceremoniously into the passenger seat and started his car. Just as he began to pull out of the gym parking lot, his phone pinged. He glanced to his right at the phone and managed to read the message just before the screen went black.

 _ **born ready. G.**_

Yasuhara breathed a small laugh at his boyfriend's reply as his phone pinged again.

 ** _don't text and drive! G._**

Yasuhara laughed, he wasn't planning on it. Especially because he would rather not die at the moment as if he did die now he may never get to kiss Eugene.  
Kiss Eugene.

The words echoed in Yasuhara's mind. He had thought them before even considering what those two words entailed. Pulling to a stop at yellow light as it turned red, Yasuhara took a deep breath. At the thought of being in a position to kiss Eugene Davis, Yasuhara found himself both elated and terribly apprehensive.

Though he hated to admit it, he had never kissed anyone. His whole high school career had been about Student Council and keeping up his grades and preparing for college. He had not had any time for dating girls, and by the time he realized that he didn't even _want_ to date girls, he was already so uncertain about dating in general that he just didn't bother.

 _It will be fine,_ he tried to tell himself, tapping a nervous finger on the steering wheel as he drove. _Eugene knows I haven't dated anyone._  
Somehow, this fact made him all the more anxious. Eugene _had_ dated girls before. Yasuhara was certain that Eugene had at least had his first kiss. What if he was a bad kisser? What if he disappointed Eugene?

By the time Yasuhara was pulling into Eugene's driveway, he had worked himself into a mess of anxiety. However, when Eugene came out the door and flashed his dazzling smile, Yasuhara could breathe again. As if Eugene's smile alone was the key to unlocking the constriction on his chest.  
Yasuhara realized two things at this moment. First, damn Eugene was gorgeous. And second, he had been waiting at the window for Yasuhara to pull up, which was completely adorable.

"Hey!" Eugene continued to smile as he pulled the car door open. He had to duck his head almost to his knees to get into Yasuhara's car, as it was so small and low to the ground. He chuckled, almost hitting his head on the way in.

Yasuhara, realizing that his phone was still in the seat where Eugene was to sit, scrambled to save it, lightly brushing the seat of Eugene's pants with the back of his hand as Eugene tried to sit.

"Sorry," Yasuhara mumbled. "You almost sat on my phone."

Eugene laughed, "Oh so that's your excuse?"

This comment made Yasuhara go completely red in the face as he fumbled for a coherent reply.

"It's okay," Eugene nudged Yasuhara's arm with his elbow, "You don't need an alibi in order to touch my ass."

Yasuhara buried his head in his hands.

"Eugene, please!"

Eugene quickly gained control of his snickering.

"Okay, I'm done." He motioned towards the front car window. "I'll let you be so you can drive."

"Thank you." Yasuhara shifted the car into reverse and placed both hands firmly on the steering wheel, preparing to back out.

"No need to thank me, I'm happy to let you touch it whenever." Eugene teased.

Yasuhara kept his mouth closed in a tight line as he focused on the road in front of him.

Eugene chuckled, "You know I'm joking, Osamu." He paused. "Well, halfway."

Yasuhara blushed at the thought but did not reply.

Finally deciding that he was done tormenting his boyfriend, Eugene fell into a comfortable silence.

"What movie are we going to see?" he asked nonchalantly as they neared the theater.

Yasuhara blanched.

"Okay maybe I should have checked movie times beforehand, huh?" He laughed awkwardly.

Eugene laughed, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"It's okay, I'll look them up." He tapped his zip code into the app and searched for the local theater. "So, it looks like the next two showings are of the new Disney film about the turtle and the horror film about the boy who haunts the lake."

Yasuhara hummed, considering the two choices. If he were being completely honest, he would rather see the cute Disney movie, but it also seemed like more of a proper date thing to see the horror film.

"Which do you want to see?" he asked Eugene in earnest, deciding that he didn't have a distinct preference.

"The horror movie seems interesting." Eugene shrugged. "But if you're scared..." He gave a coy grin.

"I'm not!" Yasuhara argued. "I love creepy stuff."

Eugene pouted.

"Right, I forget you're always reading that conspiracy stuff," he reasoned. "That has to be creepy."

"The real question is," Yasuhara gave a coy grin, "Will you be scared?"

"Yeah, right!" Eugene scoffed.

"So horror it is, then!" Yasuhara declared emphatically as he pulled his car into the movie theater's parking lot.

Yasuhara found a place to park near the front of the lot and the two bailed out of the car.

Gingerly, Yasuhara took Eugene's hand in his own as they walked towards the box office. Eugene returned the gesture with a small grin and a squeeze of the hand in his own.

"Two for, um," Yasuhara looked up at the list of films. " _The Boy of the Lake,_ please," he asked of the lady in the ticket booth.

Awkwardly, reaching around to his right pocket with the opposite hand so that his right hand could continue to hold Eugene's, he pulled out his wallet and paid for the tickets. Eugene and Yasuhara both thanked the lady in the booth and took their tickets, setting towards the concessions.

"Popcorn?" Eugene asked, nodding his head towards the concession line.

Yasuhara shrugged.

Eugene chuckled, "Well, I want popcorn."

The pair stood in line for about five minutes and Eugene purchased a large popcorn and soda for them to share. By the time they had done this, it was almost time for the movie to start. They presented their tickets to the usher who pointed them towards the entrance to the room that was showing their film.

Yasuhara guided Eugene to a seat in the direct center of the fourth row, visibly pleased that this spot was not yet taken.

"This is the best seat in a theater." he promised, giddy.

"I'm glad you know these things." Eugene sounded amused. "Where would I be without you?"

"Probably sitting in the very front row like a chump," Yasuhara declared, smoothly letting go of Eugene's hand and taking his seat.

Once they were both seated, Eugene took Yasuhara's hand in his own again and let their hands rest in his lap.

"You sure you're not going to be scared?" Yasuhara attempted to tease in a low whisper.

Eugene ran his thumb across Yasuhara's knuckles, looking down at their hands intertwined.

"Truthfully, I am kind of a scared-y cat," he whispered. "But I have you here, so what could go wrong?"

Yasuhara grinned, "Seriously this movie can not be that scary."

"Hey, don't ruin my attempts at flirting!"

"Oh yeah?" Yasuhara gave him a daring look. "But you ruin mine all the time, it's only fair."

Eugene prepared a clever retort, but he was cut off by the sound of the film's opening credits.

The first twenty minutes of the movie, both Eugene and Yasuhara managed to stay unaffected by the horror. Eugene had only startled slightly at the first jump scare, which he had managed to mostly conceal. However, when the boy in the lake tried to drown a passerby and jumped out from the water covered in an illusion of blood, Eugene jumped and his free hand flew up to cover his eyes.

Yasuhara snickered, "Scared, babe?"

"Shush," came Eugene's muffled reply.

Yasuhara squeezed Eugene's hand in an attempt to comfort him and felt Eugene gingerly squeeze back.

He leaned in to whisper in Eugene's ear, "He's gone."

Eugene shivered, feeling Yasuhara's breath graze his neck, and slowly uncovered his eyes only to be met with another jump scare.

"Ah!" Eugene yelped and his free hand lurched back to cover his eyes again.

X~X~X

As the final credits rolled, Eugene was a trembling, pale mess while his boyfriend sat adjacent, contentedly munching popcorn.

"That was a really amazing ending!" Yasuhara gushed. "I did not see that coming."

Eugene blinked as the lights came up.

"I hardly saw it at all."

Yasuhara laughed, standing and gathering the empty popcorn bowl and fountain cup.

"Was it really that bad?" he asked, arching his back to stretch.

"You and I watched the same movie, right?" Eugene squinted.

Yasuhara grinned, "I could rant at you about theories of perception and reality and convince you that you and I did not, at all, see the same movie." He chuckled. "However, I prefer the reality that you are a scaredy-cat and I am the coolest and the chillest strong man."

"The coolest and the chillest strong man?" Eugene rolled his eyes. "If you insist." He stood, shaking his head.

Yasuhara's shoulders sagged and his voice softened as he asked, "The movie wasn't too terrible, was it? I mean, the experience."

"If you're asking whether or not I enjoyed holding your hand, the answer is that I did." Eugene laughed softly,

Rather than answering in words, Yasuhara scooped Eugene's hand back into his own and tugged him out of the theater.

Once they found the spot where they had parked, Yasuhara unlocked Eugene's door and pulled it open for him.

"Thank you!" Eugene tipped his head.

Yasuhara climbed into the driver's seat on the other side and started the car. He turned on the car CD player and a peaceful piano instrumental began playing.

Eugene chuckled at the choice of music but did not say anything.

Cocking an eyebrow in Eugene's direction, Yasuhara tempted Eugene to protest the choice.

"It's cute," Eugene said, trying in vain to conceal his grin. "Very serene."

"Maybe I'm just trying to calm your nerves after that scary movie," Yasuhara teased.

"Thoughtful of you."

The rest of the ride was spent in peaceful silence with only the piano CD creating noise. As Yasuhara drove, he felt Eugene's hand come to rest gently on his thigh. Yasuhara steeled at first in surprise, but soon relaxed, smiling softly at the road in front of him. Absentmindedly, Eugene rubbed tiny circles into Yasuhara's thigh. When he finally pulled his car into Eugene's driveway, he wished that the ride had been longer.

"That was really nice," Eugene stammered awkwardly, managing a pleased grin.

Yasuhara put the car in park and turned to face his boyfriend.

"I'm glad."

Eugene was suddenly very aware of how close he was to Yasuhara. Their faces were only inches apart. He watched Yasuhara glance from his lips to his eyes.

Gently using his hand to support Yasuhara's chin, Eugene leaned forward and pressed a careful kiss to his lips. The kiss lasted only a second or two, barely any time passing at all. But in that moment, so much of Yasuhara's life changed. He smiled through the kiss, anxieties and uncertainties melting away. Then, as soon as it had begun, it was over.

Eugene pulled away, flashing a dazzling smile in Yasuhara's direction.

"Goodnight, Osamu."

Moonlight flooded through the car window, illuminating the blush on Yasuhara's cheeks as he smiled back at Eugene.

"Goodnight."

 ** _hello, all! it's been a while, hasn't it? I'm ashamed to say that I have had this written since the last chapter came out, but I'd been putting off posting it because I have always kind of felt like this chapter would be the end. which it is. this is the end of SPR Gym as far as I know! I suppose if I ever have a really grand idea, I could still update, but I am happy with this as a short, simple story. I've not been writing much lately in general, just because of personal stuff, so I feel better with wrapping this up. thank you so much for reading, and thank you to Hannah (Snavej) for editing! much love! -Bee_**

 ** _(this story was edited to fix some typos and formatting mistakes on August 20th, 2017 / thank you for reading!)_**


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